Bob Bashara expresses remorse before being sentenced

Bob Bashara fought back against prosecutors’ allegations of dishonesty in his plea by apologizing and expressing remorse in court before he was sentenced Monday to 80 months to 20 years in prison.

Bashara received the sentence after pleading guilty two months ago to solicitation of murder, that he hired a hit man last June to kill Joe Gentz. Gentz is charged with murder and conspiracy after telling police Bashara hired him to kill Bashara’s wife, Jane, and could testify against him.

“The prosecution’s (sentencing) memorandum states I wasn’t honest in my plea,” Bashara told Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Bruce Morrow. “Absolutely wrong. I fully admitted that I tried to solicit someone to kill Mr. Gentz. I can’t begin to tell you how ashamed I am of what I did and how absolutely regretful I am for my actions.”

Assistant Wayne County prosecutor Robert Moran moments earlier noted that Bashara in his prior statement to the court said he merely “foolishly and regrettably offered” to pay money to a Detroit furniture store owner to have Gentz killed while he was housed in a Wayne County jail facility.

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“What he did not say to the court was that he did pay some money to take a life,” Moran said, adding that he also minimized his role during recorded jailhouse conversations.

“He indicates over and over again on a number of calls that he was set up, that he was trapped, that, ‘I was pressured into doing this act,’” Moran said. “Again, blaming someone else. … He says, ‘I’m going to get a state paid vacation … because this guy sucked me in and I didn’t say no.’ Now that’s not an indication of someone who accepts responsibility for their actions because he’s still blaming someone else, not himself.”

“The first step to rehabilitation is to accept responsibility for his actions. He hasn’t got there.”

Bashara retorted to the judge: “My attempts to minimize my actions to those who continue to support was a desperate attempt on my part to somehow make sure that they would not abandon me as so many people have. … I understand I must pay for what I have done. I absolutely stand before you, my family and the world and take responsibility for my actions.”

Bashara’s voice cracked when he talked about his contributions to the community and taking care of his mother during his several-minute statement. At one point he wiped his cheek.

His mother, Nancy, aunt and a cousin attended the sentencing.

Gentz, Bashara’s target for death, sat 30 feet away in circuit count and at one point rested his elbows on his knees and kept his head bowed while Bashara talked.

Bashara’s sentence was near the top of the sentencing guideline range of 51 to 85 months. Bashara’s attorney, Mark Kriger, argued for 63 months while Wayne prosecutors argued for the top.

Gentz’s attorney in the murder case, Susan Reed, said after the sentencing that her client was pleased with the outcome.

“It’s near the high end,” she said. “That’s what we wanted.”

Reed in court read a relatively short, prepared statement by Gentz: “Bob has used me and threatened me. He told me he had friends in the mafia and would have me killed. Bob tried to make me look bad so no one would believe me. I was afraid for my life because he can get to you anywhere, even in jail. I went to police. No one believed me. I am still in fear and don’t feel safe anywhere.”

Reed said afterward that Gentz’s fear kept him from reading the statement himself.

“This is the first time he has seen Mr. Bashara since all of this happened,” she said. “He was shaking. He really shaking back there, being in the same room with him.”

Kriger, in response to a post-hearing question about his reaction, pointed out that prosecutors withdrew their request to sentence Bashara between 85 and 135 months after agreeing Bashara’s conduct was not “predatory.”

“At one point the prosecution thought he could get as much as 135 months,” Kriger said.

Gentz, Bashara’s former handyman, told police Bashara paid him to strangle Jane Bashara, 56, a Mount Clemens native, on Jan. 24 in the couple Grosse Pointe Park garage. Her body was found the next day in her SUV parked in an east side Detroit alley.

Police and prosecutors say Bashara paid Steve Tibaudo$2,000 as a 10-percent down payment to have Gentz killed in the William Dickerson Detention Facility in Hamtramckto prevent Gentz from testifying against him.

After Bashara’s initial offer, Tibaudo went to police and wore a hidden wire to secretly tape-record further conversations with Bashara.